


savior

by naktoms



Series: among the night [6]
Category: Topp Dogg (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Hello naughty childr, M/M, OBVIOUSLY theres biting its not a vampire au without it, so if that bothers you YKNOW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 20:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5716333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naktoms/pseuds/naktoms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sangwon is a hunter stuck doing very non-hunterly things.<br/>(What worth does saving a vampire have? A lot, apparently.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	savior

**Author's Note:**

> HEY i wrote this last summer but i realized since mood swings and its side plots are in this au too, maybe i shld post the original fics  
> as a side note this used to be entirely in lapslock!! i went through and reformatted it and the other two fics i'll post soon so that it would fit the format of the rest of the series. thus, i may have missed some words that needed to be capitalized. whoops. tried my best
> 
> kudos + comments are appreciated!! i hope you enjoy!

Sangwon lives off of cup noodles. Nowadays, he’s home for maybe an hour before he passes out on his couch, so a couple minutes in the microwave and a plastic fork is all he can sustain himself on. He’s lazy besides, so even if he wasn’t doing a 12 to 6 shift (and that’s AM, by the way) he probably wouldn’t cook anyway.

Sangwon takes his noodles with him to the bathroom, multitasking because he’s running a little bit behind. He’s going to eat these noodles and then brush his teeth and then he needs to clean his stake-

He sees his face in the mirror, chubby cheeks stuffed with noodles, dark circles under his eyes. He looks like such a child, even though he’s turning twenty this year- it makes him angry.

He ignores it in favor of eating the rest of his noodles, hurriedly brushing his teeth and giving his stake a once-over with a paper towel before leaving, canvas bag slung over his shoulder and leather jacket on.

 

Sangwon had been under the impression that vampire hunting was a lonely job. When he entered the academy, one of the lessons had been all about hunting in pairs or groups- it was considered dangerous, but so was hunting solo, so really they were screwed either way. Because of this, he fully intended to hunt solo for his entire career, all possibly-ten-years-before-he-snapped of it, but after a week in the Seoul district they slapped him with another hunter fresh out of the academy and they stuck like glue.

His name is Sanggyun. He has bright red hair, almost as red as the blood that’s spattered on the pavement. He’s a jokester, cackling at the dead vampire at his feet and nudging it up against a building, where it will vaporize when the sun rises. And he likes cup noodles too.

“Nice one,” Sangwon says, high fiving Sanggyun when he comes to walk with him again.

“Thanks!” Sanggyun replies with a big grin, and Sangwon grins back.

He loves his job.

 

There’s a nest in the west end of the city that’s been there for years. They aren’t amicable by any means, but they seem almost vital to the ecosystem, if you will, which is why the hunters haven’t driven them out yet.

That, and the nest is almost 500 strong if you include the Gwangju annex, which is more than a little intimidating. But, whatever helps the head hunters sleep at night.

Sangwon likes to think that he’s confident, that he’s cool, that he’s not scared. But, being put on patrol in the west end is more than a little scary. It’s not like he’s ill-equipped for the job- he has all his weapons and supplies and his phone’s on full charge, should he need to call headquarters- it’s just that almost all the streetlights are out on this end of the city and the businesses shut down early. It’s eerie, and cold, and Sanggyun won’t stop complaining because he’s stupid and never brings his own jacket.

It’s so far out of line for Sanggyun to leave to go get a jacket because “I’m seriously going to freeze to death, Sangwon” but Sangwon lets him go anyway. Protocol states that if one hunter out of a pair or group needs to leave the patrol area for any reason, every hunter in their party comes with them, for protection and to prevent hunters from being trapped in a patrol area and, then, inevitably being ambushed and killed by any vampires that may have been lying in wait for that exact situation.

Sangwon thinks about this as he heads down an alleyway, canvassing the block evenly, walking with sure steps. He can’t seem afraid, otherwise he’ll look like an easy target; he can’t be too cocky, either, otherwise he’ll let his guard down and get jumped for sure.

The alleyway empties into a well-lit side street with townhouses along either side and Sangwon breathes a sigh of relief. He decides that it’d be an alright time to check his phone, pulling it out of his pocket and unlocking it. He’s checking his texts that he got while he was napping earlier, the ones he didn’t get time to look at because he woke up too late, when he runs right into someone.

He’s expecting it to be Sanggyun, but the person stumbles when Sangwon bumps them and he raises his eyes from his phone. The person ended up falling, making Sangwon feel a little bad, and Sangwon reaches to help them up, getting a fearful cry in return. “Woah, hey,” Sangwon says gently, withdrawing his hand. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you-”

The person (it looks to be a man, but Sangwon’s not 100% sure) looks up, and he sees the crimson edge to their eyes, streaking the brown there. It’s an unfed vampire, starved and weak, cheeks hollow and eyebags dark, eyes swimming with dark tears as it looks at Sangwon. It reaches for his legs and he takes a hurried step back, panic bubbling in his throat, at least until the vampire speaks.

“You’re one of those hunters, aren’t you?” It asks, voice weak and wavering. It reaches out once more, catching Sangwon’s boot. Sangwon goes to take another step, but then notices that the vampire’s crying. “Please, please kill me, I don’t- I don’t want to be alive anymore, please kill me.”

Sangwon knows he should. He knows he should pull his stake out of its sheath and shove the vampire back (it’s weak, but of course, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t still kill him) and stake it, but-

But now it’s laying at his feet, legs curled underneath it, like someone before a statue of a saint. And Sangwon doesn’t know what he should do, after all.

He does what he can. He bolts, running the opposite way down the street. He knows that if this was just a clever ploy for the vampire to kill him, he’s not going to get away, but even after fifteen minutes of sprinting and his lungs burning up, he’s still alone. He makes it to the center of the city, downtown, already empty and lifeless even though it’s just now coming up on two AM.

Sangwon suddenly remembers that Sanggyun never caught up with him. If Sanggyun doesn’t find him he’ll be marked as missing and they’ll comb the city for him twice over, so he’d cause more trouble by going directly home than by taking the time to call Sanggyun.

“Hey,” Sangwon says once Sanggyun picks up, and his voice comes out breathier than he was intending.

“Sangwon! Jesus fuck! I’ve been looking for you for almost thirty minutes, where-”

“I don’t want to talk about it, I just- I need to go home. Sanggyun, go back to HQ and- do paperwork or something, I don’t know.” Sangwon can hear Sanggyun fumbling for some question, making vague noises into the phone, so he hangs up before Sanggyun can get any of them out.

Sangwon flops face down onto his couch once he gets back to his apartment and tries to forget. He’s so stupid, that’s not what he should have done, the head hunters will have his ass if they find out-

Ugh.

 

Sangwon wakes up with an uncomfortable weight on his back and, upon opening his eyes, he finds that it’s Sanggyun. “Did you have to sit on me?” Sangwon asks, rolling over easily underneath Sanggyun’s light frame. Sanggyun nods, not looking up from his phone.

“Yeah. Your fault for falling asleep on the couch.” Sanggyun turns his phone display off, leaning so he can toss it onto the table, then lays so he’s snuggled up to Sangwon, on the edge of falling off the couch. “what happened?”

Sangwon sighs. “I don’t- it’s nothing, nothing happened, I’m just-” _Stupid_.

Sanggyun nods. That’s another thing Sangwon likes about him- Sanggyun’s always willing to drop things, even if the curiosity is killing him. He’s content to just lay here and poke at Sangwon’s cheeks, to be honest, and that makes Sangwon smile.

“What time is it?” Sangwon asks, and Sanggyun reaches behind him to get his phone and check.

“Almost four PM,” Sanggyun says, tossing his phone back over his shoulder. Sangwon winces as it makes contact with the table, and Sanggyun laughs. “Sangwon, it’s not gonna break.”

“Yeah, it is, and I’m gonna laugh when it does.” Sangwon says, grinning, and Sanggyun sticks his tongue out at him.

Eventually they go out for a late lunch and then Sangwon heads off to do paperwork that’s about a week overdue. He knows Sanggyun had the opportunity to do it last night, but also knows that Sanggyun likely didn’t even touch it. Nobody asks him why he didn’t come in last night and he’s thankful, because he’s not that good at lying no matter how much he boasts.

Paperwork is, thankfully, the most time consuming and conscious task on the face of the earth, so it prevents Sangwon from thinking too hard about last night. It was… unnerving, more than anything, and he’s afraid to think of what might have happened had he not ran away. Would the vampire have killed him? Would Sangwon have told it his name? Would he have learned its name?

Sangwon finds that he’s stopped writing, pencil lead pressed against his bottom lip as he stares off into space, mulling over fifty different scenarios in his head. What if, what if, what if.

He has no patrol tonight, never does on sundays, and for that he’s grateful. He halfway thinks he’d be too scared to go, even if he would have been put on his usual route in the east end, where there’s never any vampires. He feels unsettled and jittery and it’s awful, all wrong, hunters don’t feel this way, hunters don’t feel- feel whatever this is.

But then again, this is the first time he’d ever actually seen a vampire not doing vampire things, like murdering or being murdered. He’s used to hearing snarls and swears, not pleas and soft sobs, and he’s not sure how to get the image out of his head. So, maybe it’s normal. maybe this has happened to others.

He looks to either side of him at the other trainees, at their desks in the offices reserved for long paperwork sessions. Junhee, to his left, top of the class in academy, half his size but with twice his passion (even if it hurts a little to admit); Hunchul, to his right, currently doodling on the paperwork instead of filling it out, taller than him and skinny. Junhee wouldn’t have hesitated to kill the vampire. Hunchul wouldn’t have even let it speak.

Sangwon groans, and nobody looks his way, because they’re all feeling the same way, no matter how dedicated they are to their work. They’ve been out of academy for barely a year, and yet there’s already no end to the paperwork, so of course Sangwon would be groaning at it. Instead, he’s groaning at how weak he is.

But, Sangwon doesn’t have the time to dwell on this, especially this side of the matter. He can’t doubt himself, because if he gets like this, he’ll surely die the next time they go on patrol. Hell, he might even die the moment he exits this building and enters the city again, mind too clouded to pay attention to his surroundings.

“Junhee,” Sangwon says, and she looks his way after finishing a line out of the form she’s filling out.

“Hm?”

“Have you ever talked to a vampire?” Sangwon speaks tentatively. It’s not far reaching- he didn’t exactly talk to it, but it talked to him, and that’s all that matters.

Junhee shakes her head. “No, not particularly. usually, they’re just yelling at me, things about how they’ve got connections and they’ll find me or whatever, blah blah. I don’t really pay attention. why?”

If he can’t tell his best friend, he’s not going to tell Junhee. “No reason. thanks, though.”

Junhee smiles and returns to her work, and Sangwon does the same, then stops writing when Hunchul pipes up.

“I did once. His name was Hyosang and he begged me to kill him, it was- it was weird, I didn’t… it really scared me.”

Sangwon bites his lip, wondering if it’s the same vampire. He wouldn’t be surprised- after all, there can’t be that many vampires begging for death around Seoul. He wants to ask for more information, but if he talks too much about it, he might get both himself and Hunchul in trouble, marked for suspicious behavior. It’s not a good thing to fraternize with the enemy.

Sangwon goes back to writing, mulling Hunchul’s words over. Is there a name put to that vampire, now? Does that make it- him?- any less vampire? Sangwon’s not sure. He’s never had to deal with this sort of thinking before, always used to the mentality that vampires are awful creatures that should never be trusted or talked to or touched, because they’re not human like Sangwon is. They’re powerful, and manipulative, and _hungry_ , always.

Sangwon sighs, laying his pencil down and leaning back in his chair. He’s thinking far too hard about this, but he just can’t stop.

 

Weeks pass, then months pass, and Sangwon thinks he’s forgotten until he’s walking home one night. He’s finished up the paperwork for the night and, seeing as it’s almost dawn, it’s high time for him to go home. Sanggyun left long ago, two hours at the least, but it’s easy to lose track of time when all you know is smudged black ink and crumpled paper. So Sangwon’s a little late getting home.

Sangwon would normally ignore noises from alleyways, because that always causes him trouble, even more so now. But since he can see the sky bluing near the horizon, he figures it’s not going to hurt to check-

He regrets it the instant he steps into the alleyway. It’s not that hard to recognize the vampire from months before, except it- he- looks even worse. Sangwon’s honestly surprised that he’s even alive, now, because he looked on the verge of death when Sangwon first saw him, but now it’s gotten serious.

“It’s you,” Sangwon whispers, mostly to himself, but he knows that no matter how low he kept his voice, the vampire would still pick it up. “Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m going to die,” the vampire whispers back, voice cracking, and unlike himself, Sangwon doesn’t have that sharp of hearing, so he has to step closer, step further into the shadow, the shadow that’s rapidly lightening. “I don’t know if I’m ready,” the vampire continues, dragging his spindly hands down his face, smearing tears around.

Sangwon feels such a pang of sympathy that it’s almost sickening, but he figures he’ll have time to throw up about it later. “I- yeah, you are, if you don’t find someplace better. the sun’s rising, dumbass.”

“I know, that’s the _point_.” the vampire moans, curling in on himself. “I can’t do it anymore, it’s- it’s the guilt, I’ve k-killed so many people, I can’t-” He breaks off with a sob as the shadows pull back from the buildings, pushing his back further against the wall in an attempt to keep himself safe.

There are only two sorts of vampires that will burn completely in the sun, and that’s dead ones and weak ones. This guy is obviously the latter, and Sangwon’s not sure what to do. It’s something of a moral dilemma- he’s sure that if a regular person were to come across this vampire, sniveling in an alleyway, moaning about how he’s about to die, they’d offer to help. They’d take him to their house, feed him human food that he can’t digest, let him take a shower and rest. but he wouldn’t get better, not until he got ahold of one of their throats-

That thought is enough to ground Sangwon, and he inhales. “Why’re you being so damn pathetic?” He asks, stepping towards the vampire, who looks at him with fear in his eyes. Of course Sangwon has his stake on him, he never leaves the house without it, but that’s not his intent. “Jesus shit, you’re supposed to be some dark creature of the night, fucking act like it.”

“But that’s the thing,” the vampire says softly, resting his chin on his knees, “I don’t want to be. I never wanted to be, I- it’s been ten years since I was turned, I’m so- I wish I hadn’t gotten used to it, I wish I’d just let myself die long ago.”

It takes a moment for Sangwon to realize that the vampire’s crying again, red collecting in the corners of his eyes, and also that the blue light is taking on a yellow glaze. Sangwon bites his lip- now or never, man, now or never- and then steps so he’s casting a shadow over the vampire. He’s not offering full protection by any means, but he is offering something less than death.

“This is the second time i’ve seen you,” Sangwon says, and he figures he has some right to be smug, “and both times you’ve been at my feet.”

The vampire looks up at him, something like awe shining in his eyes, his crimson red eyes. “Why are you- please, just let me die, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do anyway?”

“Come on, man.” Sangwon quickly extends a hand, because if he thinks about it too long, he’ll either second guess himself, let his hunter training kick in, or run again. any of these will result in the death of this vampire and, oddly, some sort of guilt that’ll churn in Sangwon’s stomach for days, weeks maybe, months probably. “I can’t stand here all day.”

 

It’s quite an ordeal to get this vampire back to Sangwon’s apartment, but Sangwon thankfully wore his jacket last night, the leather one, so he drapes that over the vampire’s head and hopes for the best. He has to walk the long way to his apartment building and also has to enter through the back entrance so that first of all, the vampire has plenty of shadows to sneak through, and so that second of all, nobody sees Sangwon smuggling a vampire into his apartment. That’d certainly be bad for his reputation- the head hunters might even kill him for it.

Sangwon takes most of his equipment off but keeps his stake tucked against his hip as he putters around the apartment, closing his blinds tight and flicking on the smaller lamps. He doesn’t know why he’s taking so much care to make this vampire comfortable, but it’s making him feel like something of a savior. Talk about an ego boost.

The vampire sits tentatively on Sangwon’s couch and Sangwon lets him wear his jacket, material swallowing his malnourished figure. Sangwon doesn’t feel comfortable sitting so close to the vampire just yet, probably never will if he’s being honest, so he drags a chair in from the kitchen and puts it on the other side of the table, right across from him.

“So,” Sangwon says, leaning forward so his elbows are propped against his knees. “What’s your name?”

“Uh… Taeyang, I think.”

Ah. Sangwon read about the effects of blood deprivation once, how it causes hypersensitivity and memory loss and all other sorts of things. He feels kind of bad for the vampire- _Taeyang_ , such a nice name, such an ironic name.

“Cool,” Sangwon says in the end, trying to smile in a friendly manner but just managing to seem nervous, scared. He knows how easy it’d be for Taeyang to kill him, behind closed doors and in this apartment with only two real exits. He can’t ignore it, even with Taeyang fiddling with the zipper of his jacket like he’s almost amazed, eyes wide but tired. “I-I’m Sangwon,” he says then, and Taeyang looks up, then smiles softly.

“Sangwon,” Taeyang repeats, folding his hands in his lap. “Thank you.”

When Taeyang speaks, his lips lift up just enough for the tips of his fangs to be visible, and it’s just another reminder of what Sangwon’s talking to, exactly. “N-no problem. Uh…” Sangwon fumbles for something to say, not wanting to let silence hang in the air. “Do you… do you want something? Like- I can’t actually offer anything, nothing you’d want-”

“Do you have coffee?” Taeyang asks, not looking at Sangwon, and Sangwon makes a noise of affirmation. “Can you make some for me, maybe? O-or, show me where the things are-”

“No, no! I can do it, I promise.” Sangwon says, standing up, and even though he’s trying his very hardest to be amicable he still walks backwards out of the living room. Even an underfed vampire is faster and stronger than him by far, you can never be too careful.

Within a few minutes he has a mug of coffee to bring to Taeyang and his fingers brush across Taeyang’s for a moment when Taeyang takes the mug from him. His hands are cold and pale and it reminds Sangwon of snow. Taeyang smiles, thanking Sangwon and slowly taking a sip of the coffee. Sangwon knows it will pass through him unabsorbed, like he’d drank nothing at all.

Sangwon finds it kind of fascinating, really, the way Taeyang’s eyes shift around the room with startling fluidity, the way his shoulders never rise with a breath, the way his fangs catch the edge of the mug on accident and click against the ceramic. He dimly recognizes that this is probably the worst thing that he could do, even worse than letting a vampire into his house- well. There is one thing that’s worse, but he’s not going there, at least not soon.

“Thank you,” Taeyang whispers again, closing his eyes while he still has the mug close to his face, and Sangwon wonders if the hot mug is warming Taeyang’s cold hands.

 

Sangwon tries to stay awake, mostly out of fear, but ends up falling asleep at the kitchen table. He wakes up with his jacket draped over his shoulders and Taeyang sitting across from him, watching him almost curiously.

“What?” Sangwon asks, stretching his arms out and wincing when his shoulders pop.

Taeyang gently touches Sangwon’s outstretched fingertips, Sangwon hurriedly withdrawing his arms when he does so. “I… I’ve forgotten, I think. I’ve already forgotten what it was like to be human. It was so strange, watching you sleep.”

“Why?” Sangwon asks softly, folding up his arms so he can lay his head on them. He’s so painfully curious.

“because… you fidget so much, and your breaths- your heartbeat, too, they’re so even.” Taeyang speaks with almost reverence, looking at Sangwon. Sangwon decides that he liked Taeyang a lot better a few months ago, when he had some brown left in his eyes. That’ll be fixed if he ever- well.

Sangwon just nods, and Taeyang stretches a hand out, reaching for Sangwon’s face. Sangwon leans back on instinct, and Taeyang lays his hand on the table instead, tapping his thumb against the wood softly. Sangwon chews his bottom lip, looking at Taeyang’s hand for a long while before carefully laying his fingers over Taeyang’s.

Taeyang pulls a face that makes Sangwon think that if he could, he’d be blushing. Sangwon runs his fingertips over Taeyang’s knuckles absently, feeling the bone hidden beneath the skin, seeing veins lying stale and unused along his fingers and hands. it’s so strange, sitting across from someone that’s supposed to be dead, knowing that Taeyang purposefully put Sangwon’s jacket around his shoulders, that he tried to touch his cheek, that he drank coffee in his living room earlier.

“You’re so warm,” Taeyang whispers, carefully slotting his fingers between Sangwon’s. “I’m sorry, if I’ve inconvenienced you, or made you uncomfortable… I know that you’re a hunter, you really should kill me.”

Sangwon frowns, still looking at their fingers. “That’s what I should do, yeah, but I wasn’t planning on it. by the way,” Sangwon glances at the clock on the wall, seeing that it’s already past nine PM. “The sun’s long set. You can leave, if you want.”

Taeyang pulls his hand back, hugging himself tight. “I don’t know if I want to, do you want me to?”

Sangwon inhales. He doesn’t really have an answer for that. On one hand, Taeyang is a stranger above all else, so even if he wasn’t, _y’know_ , Sangwon still probably wouldn’t trust him alone by himself- he’s got a patrol tonight. On the other hand, he feels so bad…  and plus, if Taeyang doesn’t give in and feed on someone, he’s going to die soon anyway.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sangwon says at last, standing up. “But I have to leave in a couple hours to go sign in at HQ for my patrol, so…”

“Oh, yeah. I- I’ll probably just sleep, actually…” Taeyang looks up at Sangwon, and he looks so small, so frail. Sangwon keeps feeling the worst pangs of sympathy and something like affection, like how you’d feel when you look at an injured animal.

So. “You can sleep in my bed, just take a shower first. I- wear some of my clothes, I don’t care.”

Taeyang’s eyes go wide, mouth falling open a bit, and then he grins, almost giddy. The light from the lamp nearby glints off his teeth, and it just barely bothers Sangwon this time. “Thank you,” Taeyang says then, gently touching his cheeks, and Sangwon can’t help but smile.

“It’s no problem. I know you don’t really need it, but… feel free to eat whatever, too.” Sangwon pulls his jacket on proper, flapping his arms a bit so his shirt sleeves settle correctly. “I’ve got cookies in the cabinet, and soda… and cup noodles.”

Taeyang smiles, closing his eyes. “I might take you up on the cup noodles.”

 

“What’s wrong with you?”

Sangwon looks at Sanggyun, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You seem so… I dunno, distant?” Sanggyun shrugs, looking off to the side. “Like you’re thinking about something really hard, I dunno. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No, not really.” Sangwon answers easily, and Sanggyun nods.

“Okay, okay, but- you can’t be like this, you have to pay attention. I’m not dying because of you.”

He’s got a point, so Sangwon exhales and tries to steady himself. He’s thinking so hard about the obvious, about the fact that he’s housing a vampire at home, a vampire that’s probably eating his cup noodles right now. But, more importantly, he’s got his best friend and partner walking beside him right now, and it’s his responsibility to provide protection and an extra set of eyes for him as much as it is Sanggyun’s to do the same for him.

He puts it out of his mind as best as he can, instead focusing on Sanggyun’s hushed whispers concerning his current training regimen, which consists of an “asston of bullshit”, apparently.

When Sangwon returns home at sunrise after checking back with HQ and abandoning Sanggyun to do the paperwork (which he never actually does, instead it accumulates and Sangwon does it all on Sunday), he finds Taeyang curled up on the couch under a blanket, not reacting when Sangwon says his name quietly. Sangwon is loathe to do it even now, but he gently touches the side of Taeyang’s face, finding him even colder than before.

 _Wait_ , Sangwon thinks. _Is he dying_?

It can’t be good, whatever it is. Sangwon slaps lightly at his face, a little panicked because _oh my god did someone just die in my house_ , but Taeyang still doesn’t rouse, face still. The blood rushing in Sangwon’s ears gives him an idea, but- oh _Jesus_.

 _It’s not the same if he doesn’t bite me, right_?

Sangwon hurriedly digs in his pocket, pulling out his switchblade and inhaling, seeing his reflection in the stainless steel. He looks pale and more than just a _little_ panicked. He shrugs off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor, then sits beside the couch, rolling his sleeve up and biting his lip. He flicks the blade out, cautiously pressing it against his wrist, closing his eyes as he cuts into his skin, dragging the blade over his skin quickly before he has time to really think about it. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have cut his left wrist, because it’s going to be a very odd angle, but.

Sangwon lays his knife aside, pressing on the area around the wound so more blood will well up in the cut, then twisting his body so he can press his wrist to Taeyang’s lips. He watches as his blood collects first on his skin, then on Taeyang’s lips, rolling across them with a few drops hitting the couch. Maybe it’s not too late, maybe-

Taeyang’s eyes snap open and Sangwon gasps, resisting his urge to flinch away when Taeyang’s hands come up to hold his arm. Taeyang licks at the cut, then sobs against Sangwon’s skin, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Don’t cry,” Sangwon whispers, raising his free hand up to wipe at Taeyang’s eyes, and Taeyang presses his lips to Sangwon’s arm. He realizes that Taeyang’s kissing along the wound a little too late and can’t stop himself from blushing.

Taeyang’s hands tighten around Sangwon’s arm, almost hurting. “God,” he whimpers, closing his eyes, “God, please, can I? Can I?”

Sangwon goes back to biting at his lip, eventually whispering his answer. “yes.”

Taeyang bites into Sangwon’s wrist and it both hurts more and less than he thought it would, more like what a butterfly needle feels like. It’s only there for a moment before Taeyang pulls his fangs out of Sangwon’s flesh, sealing his mouth over the wound and sucking at it, like a baby with a bottle.

Sangwon oddly gets some feeling of pride, overriding whatever small disgust he feels at this situation (at himself). Surprisingly, he isn’t the one to pull away; instead, Taeyang pushes Sangwon’s arm away from him, covering his face and sobbing into his hands. Sangwon glances at his arm, at the inflamed puncture wounds still dribbling blood, then decides to deal with it later, pushing his sleeve down over them and then tugging at Taeyang’s hands. “Why are you crying?” Sangwon asks, wiping at Taeyang’s face once he lets Sangwon pull his hands away. He mostly succeeds in smearing the watered-down crimson around Taeyang’s face.

“Because, t-that- I just- I didn’t want to do that, ever, god, why did you let me?” Taeyang looks at Sangwon, then, and Sangwon doesn’t know if he’s imagining the flecks of brown rising in Taeyang’s irises.

“‘Cause you scared me, I didn’t expect to come back to a dead vampire, the fuck’s wrong with you?” Sangwon is joking, of course, and smiles to let Taeyang know, but Taeyang just sobs again. Sangwon makes his way onto the couch, reaching for Taeyang, and Taeyang sits up obediently, still crying as Sangwon gently wraps his arms around him.

Something in the back of Sangwon’s head lets him know that this is _wrong_ , this shouldn’t have happened, he should have dragged Taeyang over to the window and opened the blinds so he would have disappeared in the morning sun.

But he thinks he likes it much better like this, even if it isn’t the best, Taeyang crying into his shoulder and smearing blood across his shirt. He thinks, maybe, he wouldn’t mind doing it again.

 

Sangwon takes great care to let Taeyang feed from him a little each day, not enough to truly replenish Taeyang’s lost energy from months of starvation, but enough to keep him alive; in turn, Taeyang takes great care in keeping himself from taking too much, gifted with a control that far exceeds his years. It’s always from Sangwon’s arm, Taeyang insisting that they stay there, but.

“Taeyang,” Sangwon says softly, still sleepy from his earlier midday nap. “Bite my neck.”

Taeyang looks at him in surprise, and Sangwon’s heart flutters at the brown cutting through the thick scarlet ( _I did that, I did that_ ). “I- but- I’m scared, that’s so- there’s bigger blood vessels there-”

“Which means you get more,” Sangwon says, sitting up and rubbing his cheek against Taeyang’s shoulder. “Come on.”

Taeyang bites his lip, eyes moving from Sangwon’s face to the exposed skin of his neck, shirt collar slipping off of his shoulder. Sangwon wiggles closer, grinning, and there’s a moment of silence as Taeyang looks into his eyes before Taeyang presses his lips to Sangwon’s, full of burning want.

It occurs to Sangwon that they’ve never kissed, even after almost three months of this strange arrangement. then, when one of Taeyang’s fangs catches his bottom lip, it also occurs to him that, somewhere along the line, he went from the proper “oh god no” to the perverse “this is kind of turning me on”.

 _Jesus_.

Taeyang tentatively reaches for Sangwon’s waist but Sangwon beats him to it, wrapping his arms around Taeyang’s torso and moving his mouth from Taeyang’s to his throat, kissing gently, finding scars where his shoulder meets his neck.

“Tell me how it happened,” Sangwon whispers, lips brushing the scars that mottle Taeyang’s pale skin.

“After,” Taeyang whispers back, gently pushing Sangwon back so he’s propped up against the arm of the couch, then sliding into his lap. Sangwon keeps his arms around Taeyang’s torso, holding him tighter as he first kisses Sangwon, then kisses down his neck, settling his face against Sangwon’s skin and sighing.

“I love you,” Taeyang says quietly, and Sangwon almost doesn’t hear him- almost. He opens his mouth to say it back, but all that comes out is a gasp as Taeyang bites into him, so much more painful but so much more _intense_. What shocks Sangwon more than the pain is the hot wave of arousal that rolls over him once Taeyang starts feeding, pulling blood from the wound in gulps, stopping occasionally to breathe hot against Sangwon’s neck even though he has no need to.

Taeyang pulls away after what seems like an eternity but was probably only a minute or so, pale skin smeared with blood and something like worry in his eyes. “Are you alright?” Taeyang asks, and Sangwon nods.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s- It’s a lot easier to overeat, from the neck.” Taeyang says shyly, and the phrasing makes Sangwon shiver. over _eat_.

He wants Taeyang to bite him again, even if he doesn’t take more. He wants- he just _wants_. But if Taeyang gets near him with those teeth again, he might get hard for real, and then they’d be in trouble.

Sangwon inhales. “bite me again.”

 

Almost a year of hiding a vampire in your apartment isn’t good for you and your best friend’s relationship, Sangwon finds. Sanggyun’s grown defensive and jumpy and he wonders if he isn’t hiding something just as big as he is, so he asks, because he knows Sanggyun will be more apt to tell.

Sanggyun slowly puts his hands over his face, pressing his fingertips against his closed eyes. “I’m in debt, Sangwon, a lot of it.”

“Wow, really? What over?” Sangwon asks, taking a drink of his soda. he’d invited Sanggyun out for lunch because they hardly saw each other outside of patrols nowadays, and he was met with a certain amount of venom and then a certain amount of ‘I missed you so much’. They’d long finished their food, leaving them with half-empty cups and questions.

“A few months ago, I-” Sanggyun’s voice cracks, and he drops his hands away from his face, staring down at the table. “I needed something to eat. and I was like, hey, it’s only been a couple minutes since it got full dark outside, I’ll- I’ll be fine.”

Sangwon can see where this is going, can see it in the way Sanggyun’s eyes swim, and he reaches over to grab hold of one of Sanggyun’s hands, squeezing. “Continue,” Sangwon prompts, after a few moments’ silence, and Sanggyun nods, swallowing thickly.

“Well, I- you probably know what happened, because I’m stupid and any time I think I’m fine I’m not and everything goes wrong-” Sanggyun stops, holds onto Sangwon’s hand tighter. “There was a vampire, Sangwon- not the ones that tried to kill me. he- he killed them, Sangwon, I don’t- I’m so indebted to him, he told me he was sorry and just _left_ but I saw him the other night on patrol, Sangwon, what do I do?”

Sangwon opens his mouth to speak, then sees the edge of something peeking out from under Sanggyun’s shirt. he reaches up and gently moves it aside, feeling his stomach drop when he sees the still-scarring wounds, dark and ugly, flaky scabs scattered here and there.

Sanggyun bites his lip hard as Sangwon slowly pulls the collar of his t-shirt back over to hide it. “I would have died,” Sanggyun whispers, “if not for that vampire, how do I deal with that?”

For Sangwon, it’s the reverse. His certain vampire would have died if not for him. He doesn’t know how to deal with that, either. “I’ve been hiding something, Sanggyun,” Sangwon says, trying to force his usual nonchalance into his voice. it doesn’t work. “L-Last spring, when we went on patrol that one night, and you- you forgot your jacket, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, you never told me what happened.”

Sangwon nods, taking a deep breath. “I… I saw a vampire that night, and obviously I was going to kill him, but he- he begged, Sanggyun, he begged for me to kill him.”

“Didn’t Hunchul run into someone like that once?” Sanggyun asks, lowering his voice to a bare whisper, and Sangwon nods.

“Yeah, but it was a different vampire all together. this one- he wanted to die so bad, it made me so… so sad.” Sangwon takes another deep breath, sighing. “It shook me up a lot, it took me months to get over it, but then I saw him again. He was waiting to get fried by the sun in an alleyway, he’d been starving himself for months…”

Sanggyun shakes his head slowly, in that sort of ‘Jesus Christ’ way. “That’s- that’s really rough, man, did you- did you just leave him there?”

“… Of course I didn’t,” Sangwon says quietly, and Sanggyun seems to understand then, expression moving from intrigued to confused to shocked. “Yeah,” Sangwon replies, without Sanggyun even having to say anything, and Sanggyun just laughs in disbelief.

“I- honestly, I thought you’d be the last one to do something like that, what… what will you do if the head hunters find out? They’ll kill you for sure, Sangwon, or at least throw you in prison for the rest of your life, that’s so dangerous…”

“I know, I know, I just- he’s so sweet, Sanggyun, his name is Taeyang and he’s so frail looking… he’s so gentle, and he tells me that he loves me almost every day.” Sangwon drags his hands down his face, rubbing his eyes. “it’s- it’s awful, Sanggyun, I feel so guilty because I went to school to kill things like him, but now I- I think I like him. He’s at least a friend, I like being around him a lot… He’s so cute, Sanggyun, what do I do?”  
“What do _we_ do?” Sanggyun echoes, and Sangwon cracks a small smile.

“I dunno, cry, I guess.”

“Sounds good to me.”

 

Sangwon comes home the following week to beautiful brown eyes looking at him in adoration, completely lost in love, and he almost wants to cry.

Instead, he just pulls Taeyang to his chest, buries his face in his hair, and tells him how gorgeous his eyes are.


End file.
